A new kind of goniophotometer has been designed, built, characterised and calibrated. The main innovation concerns the dectctor which is not a single channel photometer, as in the classical goniophotometers, but an imaging CCD camera. Images of the sample with a plane or spherical shape, through an automated image processing procedure and a sophisticated data reduction technique, provide a quick and accurate goniophotometric characterisation of the sample. The instrument may be used for the characterisation of diffusion patterns of translucent plates, as diffusing glass sheets (opal glass, laminated glass with opal plastic sheets, sandblasted glass, etched glass, etc.) or other transparent diffusing materials, and for the evaluation of bi-directional reflectance functions of spherical surfaces.
